A 68-year old South Korean woman recently passed the written exam for a driver’s license after 949 failed attempts. After hearing this news story, I am pondering a move to South Korea. Here in America, you are likely to be given a free pass after about 10 tries. But I am too principled to accept such.
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Superstar golfer Tiger Woods recently released a statement in which he apologizes to fans and family for his past transgressions. Minutes after the statement was released, the term “transgression” became one of Google’s most searched terms. Two things we can learn from this incident: 1) Humans are curious creatures. 2) Bookworms are a near-extinct species.
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I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and a fulfilling holiday season.

Simon

My article on the Lantern Festival.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2231961/chinese_moon_festival_legend_traditions.html

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Rio deserves this victory. The US will definitely get another chance, but this is Brazil’s time to shine.

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One of the main purposes of my blog is to showcase the beauty of multiculturalism. This is partly due to the fact that I am fluent (supposedly) in several languages. It is hard to master that many languages without becoming immersed in the unique cultures that accompany them.

In my spare time, I translate and proofread documents for law offices. I work mostly with people who apply for K-1 Fiancé Visa. According to the laws, applicants and their fiancés have to provide detailed accounts of their relationships. What most interesting is the varying length of the documents. Some submit 20-30 pages detailing their relationships; others submit merely a page or even less than that (yah for me!). Here is an excerpt of one of my recent works. I found this one quite touching.

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I, hereby, affirm that the following statements on the relationship between Ms. TTB and I are true.

I migrated to the United States with my parents in 1985. I am currently residing in Chicago, Illinois. Throughout my time living in the United States, I always long for opportunities to return to my native land to visit my siblings and relatives who are living in the country. I made my first return trip to (blank) in 2004. During the visit, I was able to rekindle kinship ties with many of my siblings and relatives. I left for the United States after one month. It was not until October 2006 when I finally had another opportunity to return to (blank).

In my second visit, I stayed at my older brother HDT’s residence. During one gathering, my nephew jokingly suggested that I should look for a (blank) date. In a chance meeting, my nephew introduced me to one of his friends named TTB. We fell in love with each other at first sight. Our love bond became even stronger after we got to know more about each other. She and I spent a lot of time together traveling to many vacation spots and scenic places. Unfortunately, I soon had to leave TTB and returned to the U.S. We managed to maintain our distant relationship through phone calls and other mediums.

I returned to (blank) with my father in April 9, 2007 determined to take the relationship to another level. TTB was ecstatic about my return. She personally greeted me at the airport, holding a beautiful flower bouquet on her hand. When she saw me at the airport terminal, she showered me with kisses and tears; it was a moment I would never forget. We were able to spend some really quality time together; it was the happiest time in our lives.

Roughly one week after the memorable reunion at the airport, we finally came to an inevitable conclusion. With the consent of both families, we got engaged on April 18, 2007 in a ceremony witnessed by our families and friends. The engagement was a huge stepping stone for both TTB and I. We spent several days after the engagement visiting old friends and traveling to different vacation spots. We stayed for a considerable length at the residence of a relative named PVB. I returned to the United States shortly after.

TTB and I continued to further nurture our profound love through phone calls and letters. However, we both soon realized the need for us to be together and share life joys side by side. Less than one year after my last visit to (blank), I decided to make another return to the place of longing. There were two unique reasons for my visit. One was to celebrate the traditional New Year with family and friends. Another was to reunite with TTB and spend some quality time with her.

During my visit, TTB and I did some sightseeing around (blank); we stayed at the (blank) Garden hotel for the trip. The two of us also traveled to the countryside to enjoy the beautiful scenery there. I returned to the United States not too long after. On June 12, 2008, TTB was interviewed by the Office of the U.S. Consulate General. However, we were notified shortly afterwards that more documents and evidences of the relationship are needed to finalize her application for a K-1 Fiancé Visa.

I ask the Consulate General to reassess the application so TTB and I can finally be together.

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Previous Results:
Which unwanted identities do you least want to be? A serial killer (30%)

While I was doing some data mining using Google statistical tools, a neat idea popped up. What would happen if I pit two or more similar/dissimilar things against each other? Which one is more popular (based on search volume)? In this little experiment, I compared France to the US.

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1) When I compared the search term “France” to the search term “America”, the former was found to be more popular generating higher level of interests.

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2) When I compared the search term “French” to “American”, the latter was overwhelmingly more popular.

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3) When I compared France’s ageless wonder “Eiffel Tower” to America’s greatest monument “The Statue of Liberty”, the latter edged the former by a small margin.

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The results were pretty much in line with what I had expected. France has a longer and much more illustrious history than the US, and thus it is not a surprise that the country generates more interest than America.The fact that Americans are more popular than the French is self-explanatory. Who would not want to be an American (sarcasm)?

The last result left me a little surprised. I thought the Eiffel Tower would have a slight edge over the Statue of Liberty; I was wrong. I guess people picked symbolic value over historic value. In summary, people like France but love Americans or being Americans. Liberty and freedom are loved as well.

One of the major misconceptions foreigners often have with regards to the Japanese is that they only eat fish and nothing else. While it is very true that the Japanese love to eat fish, they crave for other animals as well. As a matter of fact, one of Japan’s most popular dishes is horse sashimi or raw horse meat. Raising horses for their meat is a major industry in some regions of Japan. But why the Japanese pick horses and not cats, donkeys, or better yet llamas?

The answer lies in Japan’s warring past. In ancient times, horses were used extensively in battle by the Japanese military. As food supplies often ran short, Japanese soldiers had had to resort to killing war horses for food. Through time, they became accustomed to eating horse meat. When the war ended, disbanded soldiers continued to this tradition and thus this was how horse sashimi came about.

Horse sashimi is one of Japan’s most popular dishes, but it is also one of the most expensive dishes. This is largely due to the fact that the Japanese do not view horses the same way as they view common livestock such cows and chicken. Horses are highly respected in Japan. Raising horses to be killed for food has to be carried out in a proper and honorable way. The extra care required to raise the horse is the reason why horse sashimi is a bit more expensive.

[Simon N.]
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Don’t throw your old books away; transform them into pieces of art.

Image Credits: South China Morning Post
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